Month: February 2026

Cass County teen rescued in Missouri less than six hours after reported missing

On the evening of June 16, 2024, an Indiana father contacted the Logansport Police Department to report his 14-year-old daughter missing after seeing her enter an unknown black SUV.  Police later determined the vehicle to be a black Dodge Durango with unknown registration.  

Investigators with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office were able to ping the girl’s cellphone and identified the suspect vehicle with Texas registration travelling westbound on U.S. 36 near Hannibal, Missouri.  

Shortly before 2 a.m. on June 17, Cass County authorities contacted the Missouri State Highway Patrol with information on the missing teen.  

Then an officer with the Shelbina Police Department notified state troopers when he spotted the black Dodge Durango with Texas plates passing slowly through Shelbina.

Meanwhile, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office traced the suspect vehicle as it traveled along Highway 36 through Clarence, Missouri around 2:11 a.m.   

About six minutes later, state troopers spotted the SUV near the intersection of Highway 36 and Kellogg Avenue east of Macon.  A traffic stop was initiated and troopers observed a girl in the backseat of the vehicle.  The girl identified herself as the missing teen and was immediately removed from the vehicle. 

The five suspects in the vehicle were all arrested and charged with second-degree kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.  The suspects were Marlon Aguilar, 44, from Honduras, Arturo Eustaquio, 41, from Mexico, Noe Guzman Hernandez, 24, from Mexico, Daniel Ruiz Lopez, 19, from Honduras, and Carlos Funez, 56, from Honduras.

According to court documents, the men were trafficking the young girl to California to a man she met on the internet.

Thanks to the urgent action of authorities in Indiana and Missouri, the young girl was rescued unharmed less than six hours after her father reported her missing.  

Sources:

Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, Indiana

ABC 17, Columbia, Missouri

Fox 59, Indianapolis, Indiana

13 KRCG, Columbia-Jefferson City, Missouri

Swift action by police led to rescue of missing Wells County girl

On Saturday, December 30, 2023, a mother contacted the Wells County Sheriff’s Department to report her 11-year-old daughter missing.  Police responded and searched the area near her home in Zanesville, Indiana.  Police were able to locate the daughter’s cell phone in an area away from her house where the daughter was not allowed to go.  The mother told police she had recently discovered inappropriate messages on the daughter’s phone from two individuals, one of whom she knew was an adult male, but she didn’t know the man’s name because he used multiple social media accounts under different names.

Police filed the girl as a missing person and issued a statewide Silver Alert for the 11-year-old.  Additionally, multiple police agencies were contacted to aid in the search.  After interviewing witnesses, police learned a white van with out-of-state license plates had been spotted in the trailer park around the time the child went missing.  Witnesses said they saw two men in the van and also saw the men walking a dog in the location where the girl’s phone was found.

From the girl’s cellphone, police discovered a phone number that had called the girl’s phone 28 times in the hour before she went missing.  Police learned this phone number belonged to Zackary Delozier of Edgemont, South Dakota.  Officers from the Indiana State Police then began to track Delozier’s phone.  

Authorities knew the suspects were travelling in a white Dodge Caravan with South Dakota plates.  Utilizing Flock security cameras, police identified the white van travelling across northern Indiana in the direction of Chicago.  At 12:11 a.m. on December 31, Delozier’s van was spotted in Wisconsin and his cellphone was tracked across the state.

Indiana State Police notified the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office that a vehicle involved in an Indiana Silver Alert for the abduction of an 11-year-old female was parked at the Kwik Trip in Barneveld, Wisconsin.  While sheriff’s deputies were enroute they learned the vehicle was on the move and travelling south on USH 151 in Dodgeville.  Dodgeville Police were dispatched and initiated a traffic stop along USH 151, shutting down the southbound lanes for approximately 20 minutes. 

Inside the van, police discovered the missing girl along with Delozier, 27, Sara Gaudino, 23, and Isaiah Schryvers, 24, all of Rapid City, South Dakota.  The 11-year-old told police she did not know the suspects, and could not remember how she came to be in the vehicle with them.  Officers also discovered a firearm in the vehicle.  

Police called the girl’s mother and asked if she knew the suspects.  She said she did not, but believed one or more of them had been messaging her daughter.  She also said she believed the suspects had taken her daughter against her will.  The three suspects were taken into custody and charged with kidnapping of a minor, a Level 5 felony.

While it is not known what the suspects intended to do with the victim, the sexually explicit nature of Delozier’s messages to the minor indicate a very bad outcome was narrowly avoided.  Because of the urgent action and close coordination of multiple law enforcement agencies, the search and rescue of the missing 11-year-old girl took less than seven hours from the time the initial report was called in. 

Sources:

WPTA 21 Alive News Fort Wayne 

WANE 15 Fort Wayne

WFFT Fox 55 Fort Wayne 

WMTV 15 News Madison  

Iowa County Sheriff’s Office 

New information in Hailey Buzbee murder investigation

Investigators for the FBI and the Hocking County Sheriff spent Monday searching a rental property on Walnut Dowler Road in Hocking County, Ohio.  Forensic evidence was recovered leading investigators to believe a crime was committed there.

According to Hocking County Sheriff Lanny North, “They found some forensic evidence which they feel might be linked to a crime scene, to a death. Until it is examined by the lab, they can’t be exactly sure what it is.”

Columbus Police believe the murder of Hailey Buzbee occurred at the rental property in Hocking County. 

On Sunday, Tyler Thomas led FBI and local investigators to a location where Hailey Buzbee’s remains were discovered.  The body of Hailey Buzbee was buried near a trailhead in Wayne National Forest in Perry County, Ohio. 

After an autopsy by the Licking County Coroner’s Office, a report was sent to the Perry County Coroner. Perry County officials have not said when the report will be released.

The Hocking County Sheriff’s timeline shows Hailey Buzbee was reported missing on January 6 and Tyler Thomas was identified as a suspect in her disappearance.  On January 16, Buzbee was tracked to Columbus.  Columbus Police questioned Thomas who admitted he picked her up in Fishers, Indiana, but dropped her off in western Ohio.  Police determined he lied about dropping Buzbee off.  On January 20, Thomas was tracked to a rental in Hocking County.  The Hocking County Sheriff and the FBI searched the Hocking County rental.  On Sunday, Thomas led investigators to Buzbee’s remains.  On Monday, the Hocking County rental was searched again and more evidence was discovered.

Authorities say Tyler Thomas and Haley Buzbee stayed at his Victorian Village home on Hunter Avenue in Columbus before later spending time at the short term rental in Logan, Ohio.

While aspects of the timeline are becoming clearer, specific dates and locations are still very much a mystery.  It appears investigators zeroed in on Tyler Thomas almost immediately.  According to Fox 59, during the Sunday press conference, Chief Ed Gebhart said Fishers Police encountered Thomas within days of Hailey Buzbee being missing.  Investigators have stated that they believe Buzbee died within days after her disappearance.  When was this initial encounter with Thomas in relation to him taking Buzbee from the Hunter Avenue location to  Logan, Ohio?  

Another big question looms over this tragedy.  Regardless of whether the 39-year-old Tyler Thomas dropped Hailey Buzbee off in western Ohio, why isn’t an older man transporting a missing minor across state lines grounds for an extended round of questioning in the Columbus Police Department interrogation room?  In nearly all these cases where a minor goes missing in the company of someone they met online, the missing minor is considered to be in danger.  Why was it weeks before that became the case here?

Hopefully we’ll get those answers soon.                      

Sources:

Columbus Dispatch

WRTV Indianapolis

ABC 6 Columbus

10WBNS Columbus

Fox 59 Indianapolis

Body of missing Indiana teen found in Ohio

The Indianapolis Star is reporting the body of missing Indiana teenager, Hailey Buzbee, has been located in Perry County, Ohio.  The 17-year-old Fishers, Indiana resident and Hamilton Southeastern High School student was last seen by her parents on January 5.

Tyler Thomas, a 39-year-old Columbus, Ohio, person of interest in her death, is being held in the Franklin County, Ohio, jail on charges of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.  Reports say Thomas was released into the custody of the FBI on February 1 and led authorities to Buzbee’s body.

Investigators believe Thomas met Buzbee through an online gaming platform.  After luring Buzbee from her home, he drove her to his residence in Columbus and also held her at a rental in Hocking County.  A search of Thomas’s phone revealed several sexually explicit videos and photographs of Buzbee.

Hailey Buzbee’s father posted a statement to Facebook.  “Hailey was a smart, beautiful, kind, and caring young lady with a bright future.  She had a deep love for her family and holds a very special place in so many hearts.

Our family is devastated.  We want the community and others to know that we are so thankful for the support we received.  It’s been tremendous and gave us the hope and strength we needed during our darkest hours. 

Please continue to keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as we move forward and thank you for all the love you have shown our precious Hailey.”

While Tyler Thomas has yet to be charged with murder, it is clear from the contents of his phone and his knowledge of the location of Buzbee’s body that he knows a great deal about what happened to her.  More information will emerge and it would come as little surprise if he is eventually charged with her murder.

According to an article in The Columbus Dispatch, Thomas’s lawyer, Sam Shamansky, said his client “maintains he didn’t kill Buzbee,” and Shamansky “thinks a charge of abuse of a corpse may be more appropriate.”

“We don’t want anybody conflating our cooperation with any admission of guilt relating to her cause of death,” Shamansky said.

If any of that is true, Tyler Thomas has a hell of a lot of explaining to do.  It is already known that he lied to detectives when confronted with information that his vehicle was identified in the area of Buzbee’s home.  He told detectives that he dropped off Buzbee along the side of the road in western Ohio.

Whether or not Buzbee left her home voluntarily to meet Thomas, how is it not a crime when a 39-year-old man, unknown to the family and without the family’s consent, transports a minor across state lines?

Per USA Today, “Officials spoke with Thomas within a few days of Buzbee’s disappearance.”

Reports have also stated that authorities believe Buzbee died within days after her disappearance.

At the present, we have a very incomplete picture of the events surrounding this terrible crime, let alone the timeline on which they occurred.  Obviously, citizens have rights that should not be infringed upon, and there are other investigative issues of which the public is not yet aware, but it is hard to wrap one’s head around the fact that a 39-year-old man admitted early on that he transported a missing teen from Indiana to Ohio and dropped her off alongside the road.  Is that not enough to warrant an arrest? 

I hope we end up getting the complete picture here.  Because parents deserve to know what they’re up against.  And everyone from lawmakers to law enforcement to gaming and social media platforms need to learn to do a better job protecting our kids from online predators.